India: Delhi bus gang rape - protests and vigils across India

This report from the BBC does not mention the ethnicity of the attackers. This is standard BBC policy to mask and protect Muslims from criticism of their actions. Therefore, by their silence, it would seem that the BBC is implying that this was a Muslim gang.

"She had suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain. She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome.

"We are humbled by the privilege of being tasked to care for her in her final struggle," Mr Loh said.

A team of eight specialists had tried to keep the patient stable, but her condition continued to deteriorate over the two days she was at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, he added.

Officials from the Indian High Commission were also present when the patient passed away. The Indian home minister said the government had decided to send the victim overseas on the recommendation of her doctors.

Arrangements are being made to take her body back to India, said Indian high commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan.

"The requisite formalities for sending the body are being completed. The deceased and family members to be flown out in a chartered aircraft later today," Mr Raghavan said.

In a statement issued in Delhi, Prime Minister Singh said: "It would be a true homage to her memory if we are able to channelise these emotions and energies into a constructive course of action.

"The need of the hour is a dispassionate debate and inquiry into the critical changes that are required in societal attitudes.

"Government is examining... the penal provisions that exist for such crimes and measures to enhance the safety and security of women. I hope that the entire political class and civil society will set aside narrow sectional interests... to help us all reach the end that we all desire - making India a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in."

Rising anger

The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area of Delhi, intending to travel to Dwarka in the south-west of the city.

The woman's case has sparked public debate as well as several days of protests across India

Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars and thrown out of the moving bus and into the street.

On arrival at the hospital in Singapore, doctors said that as well as a "prior cardiac arrest, she also had infection of her lungs and abdomen, as well as significant brain injury".

The government has tried to halt rising public anger by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

The government has also said that it will post the photos, names and addresses of convicted rapists on official websites to shame them.

It has set up two committees - one looking into speeding up trials of cases involving sexual assaults on women, and the other to examine the lapses that might have led to the incident in Delhi.

But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.

Since the Delhi incident, several cases have been highlighted of authorities failing to respond to reported rapes.

On Wednesday, a woman committed suicide in the state of Punjab, after having tried to report to police a rape which allegedly took place last month, local media reports said.

At least one police officer involved in the case has been sacked, according to local officials.

Analysis

There has been an unprecedented outpouring of anger and grief in India and on the eve of the New Year, many say they have decided not to celebrate.

Many private clubs, hotels and citizens have decided to cancel or tone down their planned festivities.

Delhi's Gymkhana Club has asked its 7,000 members to come and light candles to show solidarity with the victim, while the Chelmsford Club, the Delhi Golf Club and the Press Club of India have decided to call off their celebrations.

The film industry in Mumbai has also joined the mourners with many Bollywood stars saying they have nothing to celebrate this year.

Reports said Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and his wife, MP Jaya Bachchan, were extremely upset by the incident and that "all plans in the Bachchan family for the New Year have been cancelled".

Six men arrested for the 16 December rape have been charged with murder. If convicted, they could face the death penalty, which is rarely carried out in India.

The victim's family have said they would fight to ensure the death penalty is handed down to anybody convicted.

"Let there be no New Year celebrations across the country. It will be a major tribute to the departed soul," The Hindustan Times newspaper quoted Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general of the Confederation of All India Traders, as saying.

Protesters say they will continue with their action until the authorities accept their demand for tougher laws to protect women in the country.

Meanwhile, the city authorities' plan to launch a new telephone helpline for women in distress has been delayed due to a "technical glitch", officials said.

The 24-hour helpline number 181 will operate out of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's office and will be connected with all the 185 police stations across the city.

Marriage plans

The woman - a medical student whose identity has not been released - and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area of Delhi, intending to travel to Dwarka in the south-west of the city.

Friends told the AFP news agency the couple were in a relationship and had been planning to marry in the next few weeks.

There was a heavy police presence at the funeral amid on-going protests

The Indian government was heavily criticised for its response to the attack, which many called "slow" and inadequate.

According to official figures, a woman is raped in Delhi every 14 hours, while women across the country say they are frequently subjected to sexual intimidation and violence.

Officials have since announced a series of measures intended to make the city safer for women.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

But many of the protesters say that women are viewed as second-class citizens, and that a fundamental change in culture and attitudes, backed up by law, is needed to protect them.

Sure! But if the BBC and other media, as a matter of policy are going to hide the identity of any case where a Muslim is involved, we should, as a matter of policy, assume Muslims are guilty in those types of cases. The fact that it may be wrong, such as in this case, is just a further indictment of the BBC's policy, in my opinion.

This approach may seem unfair (and inaccurate), but how else can we force the BBC to be truthful in reporting racist attacks?

Since the media refuse to teach the public about the differences between, and history/theology of, hinduism, mohammedism, and sikhism, it's really not surprising when people start to conflate them.

Over the muslim paedophile gangs is the first time we have seen British hindus and sikhs demanding that the media stop saying "asian" and start saying "muslim". The media and the interNational Socialists would like it that hindus/sikhs/etc. get mistaken and attacked as "muslims". That way they can say the people doing the attacking are "ignorant", whilst shirking their responsibility to inform. They get to maintain that it's not the muslim terrorists / criminals / mutilators / homophobes / paedopiles who are at fault. It is the people who don't know the difference between them, and who think that those who are a minority of asians in Britain/America are representatives the majority of asians (i.e. muslims) in Britain.

Alan Lake said:

Sure! But if the BBC and other media, as a matter of policy are going to hide the identity of any case where a Muslim is involved, we should, as a matter of policy, assume Muslims are guilty in those types of cases. The fact that it may be wrong, such as in this case, is just a further indictment of the BBC's policy, in my opinion.

This approach may seem unfair (and inaccurate), but how else can we force the BBC to be truthful in reporting racist attacks?

Monitor this Page

Muslim Terrorism Count

Mission Overview

Most Western societies are based on Secular Democracy, which itself is based on the concept that the open marketplace of ideas leads to the optimum government. Whilst that model has been very successful, it has defects. The 4 Freedoms address 4 of the principal vulnerabilities, and gives corrections to them.

At the moment, one of the main actors exploiting these defects, is Islam, so this site pays particular attention to that threat.

Islam, operating at the micro and macro levels, is unstoppable by individuals, hence: "It takes a nation to protect the nation". There is not enough time to fight all its attacks, nor to read them nor even to record them. So the members of 4F try to curate a representative subset of these events.

We hope that free nations will wake up to stop the threat, and force the separation of (Islamic) Church and State. This will also allow moderate Muslims to escape from their totalitarian political system.

The 4 Freedoms

These 4 freedoms are designed to close 4 vulnerabilities in Secular Democracy, by making them SP or Self-Protecting (see Hobbes's first law of nature). But Democracy also requires - in addition to the standard divisions of Executive, Legislature & Judiciary - a fourth body, Protector of the Open Society (POS), to monitor all its vulnerabilities (see also Popper). 1. SP Freedom of SpeechAny speech is allowed - except that advocating the end of these freedoms2. SP Freedom of ElectionAny party is allowed - except one advocating the end of these freedoms3. SP Freedom from Voter ImportationImmigration is allowed -except where that changes the political demography (this is electoral fraud)4. SP Freedom from Debt
The Central Bank is allowed to create debt - except where that debt burden can pass across a generation (25 years).

An additional Freedom from Religion is deducible if the law is applied equally to everyone:

Religious and cultural activities are exempt from legal oversight except where they intrude into the public sphere (Res Publica)"